Chương 9: Chapter - 9 : The Birth of Orion Aubrey part - 3

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Yes, yes I am. What can I do for you?" Mr Weasley asked, obviously wondering what the boy wanted.

"My name's Orion Aubrey," Harry introduced himself. After a long time spent practicing, he no longer hesitated over the words. "I was hoping I could speak to you about something - something important. If you don't have time right now though I could come back later."

"Not at all, come in, come in." Mr Weasley waved him forwards into the cramped office. "Please, have a seat. Now then," he said once they'd both sat down. "Tell me about this very important matter." Harry could tell the man was just humouring him, but was grateful all the same. Very few adults ever even pretended to take children seriously.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said politely. "It's a rather unbelievable story, but please hear me out. First, have you ever seen a large grey rat that's missing a toe on its right paw?"

Mr Weasley seemed rather taken aback by the very strange question, but gamely tried to answer it. "I don't think… well… hmm, actually, yes I have!" He nodded and leaned back in his chair. "My son Percy has a pet rat matching that description. His name is Scabbers."

"A pet! Really?" Harry made sure to sound horrified although inwardly he wanted to cheer in triumph. It seemed at least in this case the knowledge from his old world carried over into this new one.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, how long ago was it that he got this rat?"

Mr Weasley was looking very bewildered by this stage, but was still nice enough to answer. "Oh, it must have been at least eight years ago now. He found it in the garden when he was a young child and decided to keep it."

"That's an awfully long time for a rat to live, don't you think, Mr Weasley?"

"Well yes, I suppose it is," he admitted. "But what is this about, exactly?"

"I know this might sound unbelievable," Harry said nervously. "But I have reason to believe that your son's pet isn't actually a rat. I think he's a wizard, one who's an animagus with the form of a rat. I've been searching for him for a while now and I've even done some scrying to try and pin point where he is. I know divination isn't considered to be very reliable, but the scrying stone put his location in your home and since you say you've seen a rat matching his description…"

"An animagus? In hiding? Pretending to be my son's pet?" Mr Weasley looked rather amused by the story he was being told.

"I'm afraid it's worse, sir," Harry said solemnly. "I think he might be a Death Eater."

Mr Weasley's eyebrows reached his hairline but he was too kind to dismiss Harry's claims outright. "Please tell me why you suspect such a thing. Who's this man supposed to be?"

"Right, well, as I said, I'm Orion Aubrey. My mum's name was Evelinda Aubrey, and my dad… my dad is Sirius Black," Harry said quietly, his voice uncertain while telling his lie for the first time.

"Sirius Black! You're Sirius Black's son?"

"Yes, but I don't think he betrayed the Potters or murdered anyone," Harry said hurriedly. "That's why I'm here; I'm trying to prove his innocence. My mum always told me that she didn't think he'd done what he was accused of. She said Sirius would rather die than join You-Know-Who. She said it was probably Peter Pettigrew who did everything and framed my dad for it."

Mr Weasley expression was filled with sympathy and a dawning understanding. "Pettigrew's dead," he said gently. "I know it must be difficult to accept, but…"

"No he isn't," Harry insisted. "He's just in hiding. Mum told me he was an animagus - one who could turn into a rat."

"Lad, you must see this all seems a bit far-fetched…"

"You yourself said that your son's pet has been around for over eight years," Harry pointed out. "That's way longer than any normal rat could live. And he's missing a toe on his front paw, when according to the Daily Prophet articles I've read the largest part of Pettigrew the Aurors could find was his finger."

"Well, I suppose I can agree that there are some odd coincidences. But it could just be that Scabbers is actually magical and that's why he's lived so long."

"But can you be absolutely certain of that?"

"Well…" Mr Weasley hesitated.

Though inwardly relieved, Harry stayed outwardly serious. He'd been counting on Mr Weasley's instinct to protect his children and apparently it was working. "Just please help me test him, then we'll know for certain. Maybe he really is a rat, but if not then my father's innocent and has spent nine years in Azkaban that he didn't deserve. Surely it's worth checking…"

"I suppose… yes…it can't hurt to be sure!" Mr Weasley reached a decision and stood up. "Williamson from Law Enforcement owes me favour… I'll ask him to help."

With that Mr Weasley ushered Harry down the hall to the Auror Headquarters and into Auror Williamson's office. After a few minutes of cheerful small talk, Mr Weasley rather incoherently explained the situation while making clear he was just humouring the poor young boy who had come up with the unlikely story.

Williamson nodded along sympathetically and exchanged several significant glances with Mr Weasley before turning his full attention to Harry. "Well Orion, let's first pull up your father's file, shall we?"

"Thank you, sir!" Harry was honestly grateful. It was obvious the two adults felt sorry for the son of Sirius Black and didn't want to cruelly destroy his belief in his father's innocence. Harry was willing to take what he could get. This was further than he had ever come in his old world.

It took a full half hour of searching before Williamson found a thin folder stuck in the back of a dusty filing cabinet. Once opened, his laid-back attitude quickly turned to outright shock. "No trial! How?" Williamson sputtered, staring down at the parchment in his hands as if it had personally offended him. "I know everything was chaotic back then but surely something so basic couldn't have been overlooked. According to this he's never even been questioned!"

Mr Weasley was also beginning to look alarmed. "Really? How in Merlin's name is that possible?"

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